


How The Stars Have Moved

by def_eater



Category: Before Sunrise (1995), GOT7, Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Attraction, F/M, Fluff, Love, Romance, Sweet, jaegi, movie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:24:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18001148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/def_eater/pseuds/def_eater
Summary: It was Jaebum's first night and Seulgi's last in the City Of Love Paris.As strangers, they meet in a hazy small bar, and for reasons far greater than the both of them, they decide to spend the night together.orThe Before Sunrise-esque fic I desperately and ridiculously wanted to write.





	How The Stars Have Moved

 

**00:00 A.M.**

 

When the clock struck midnight, Kang Seulgi, seated on the far edge of the overly crowded bar, called loudly for the bartender and using the bits of French she had learned the past month and a half, ordered herself a tall, expensive glass of Champagne. The bartender, Louis as his name tag provided, chuckled slightly and nodded, going about to prepare the fancy drink.

Seulgi, too, found the whole situation amusing. Suddenly ordering Champagne after having already downed two glasses of cheap German beer. Except the Champagne was much deserved thank you very much; a bittersweet celebratory gift she allowed herself. After all this was her last night in Paris.

While waiting for her drink, Seulgi went for her faux-leather tote bag, and from it she pulled out a black ink pen and her tiny moleskin sketchbook. The bar was hazy save for a few vibrant neon lights perched on the ceiling and on top of funny-looking frames that dimly illuminated the place and allowed Seulgi some visibility.

Looking for an interesting subject to sketch, Seulgi took to scanning the room; people, decor, plants and the rest until her wondering eyes stopped upon a man seated on his own in the far corner of the bar, his face and body half obscured by a woman standing and chatting to her friend next to him. He picked up his glass of whiskey with great force, as if it were something very heavy, and for a short moment he looked into it miserably before quickly throwing his head back and drinking the whole of it.

Seulgi smiled faintly, gripped her pen and started sketching at once, her eyes stealing surreptitious yet rehearsed glances his way.

"I hope I never look as depressed. Ever."

Seulgi jerked at the abrupt and close disembodied voice coming from behind her. It was sleek and smooth, a bit slurred by alcohol, but still very clear and very Korean. Seulgi swirled on her chair and came face to face, well more like face to chest, with a young man who, as soon as she focused on his face, gave her a boyish smirk and a slight bow of the head.

"How did you know I was Korean?" She found herself questioning. Out of all the things she could have asked, such as 'who are you?' and 'why are you such a creep?' or 'your twin moles are the most fascinating thing ever', Seulgi was mostly annoyed by his confident attitude and his ignorance of a little something called personal space.

The nameless young man shrugged and tapped his knuckles on her tote bag, the bit where Seulgi, once in a fit of creative yet chaotic brilliance, decided to spray-can her name in Hangul on most of her possessions. "A lucky guess." He said, chuckling slightly.

Seulgi rolled her eyes and offered him a tight smile, before turning back and taking a sip of her drink. If she won't reply, he'll probably get bored with her and leave, she thought. And so, without paying him any mind, Seulgi picked up her pen once more and continued on with her drawing.

However, a second passed before she felt Mr. Korean's elbow brushing into her upper arm rather harshly, as he tried to squeeze himself in order to reach the bar. Seulgi scooted to the far edge of her stool to allow him some space as he ignored her and called for the bartender to give him his drink order, his French sounding almost fluent.

"How very Egon Schiele." He now had his elbows perched on top of the bar as he lazily leaned on them waiting for his drink. His voice was not judgmental but rather light and friendly, his eyes focusing on her drawing; a mix of minimalist fluid and straight lines of ink that made a rough sketch of the man still seated in the far corner of the bar.

"Minus the genitalia, I might add." She deadpanned with an innocent face. The young man looked at her some more before he dipped his head low and laughed, causing his wide shoulders to shake slightly. In spite of herself, Seulgi laughed along with him. She was just kind of glad that someone, anyone for that matter, got her "lame art jokes" as her friend Yerim called them.

When Louis set a bottle of beer on the bar top, the mysteriously unnamed young man went for it immediately. After a smooth "merci" on his part and a wink from the bartender (who could blame him really), the young man turned around slightly and faced Seulgi. He leaned up against the bar casually, as if he had all the time and space in the world. As if he could care less about the tight space he was insufferably squeezed in or the elbow of the man behind him that kept drilling into his back painfully. When Seulgi ignored him, he drank from his bottle and looked about the bar aimlessly, not moving even an inch.

After a few minutes of silence, Seulgi spoke up. "I think there's an empty table on the right, if you'd like."

"I'd rather stand here and watch you draw." he replied truthfully. Seulgi blinked in surprise. His tone was not jokey or condescending, not even the last bit flirtatious, it was very honest.

"Are you an artist or something?" She asked, eyeing his grey formal business attire. His deep blue necktie was slightly loose, allowing for him to unfasten the first couple of buttons on his crisp white shirt.

He scrunched up his face in contemplation as he tilted his head. "Yeah, you could say so. I do mostly photography and film. But I have friends who paint and do art and stuff."

"That's nice." she said flatly, not knowing where the conversation was taking the both of them.

He was a stranger, and while he had been nothing but courteous and funny and ridiculously handsome to her, he was still in fact a stranger. Joohyun would label him a Psychotic Serial Killer, until proven not guilty. However, Sooyoung would advise her to live a little, be adventurous and make memories. Normally she would take the Joohyun approach to life. Years of being Sooyoung's friend proved to be burdensome and tiring, with Seulgi usually waking up the next morning with severe hangover and mortifying regrets.

"My name is Im Jaebum, by the way." He offered, cutting through her train of thoughts and giving her a soft warm hand for her to shake. When she looked up at him, he smiled sincerely and looked her straight in the eyes.

"You're very straightforward." she stated, smiling playfully and taking his hand to shake. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Life is too short for beating around the bush, non?" He replied and made a funny face her way before he took another slow sip from his beer.

"Did you study French or something?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He was becoming more and more mysterious and she was very curious. "You speak with a fluent tongue."

"You know I'd love to tell you all about it, but my poor legs are getting strained here and I think the man sitting behind me has dented my back already." Jaebum answered her, grabbing his bottle and squeezing himself out of the tiny space he was in. He made an elaborate show of stretching and popping some knuckles comically. "That vacant table on the right looks almost too perfect right now."

Seulgi's face fell as she looked at him, unsure of what to say. She was taken aback, mostly at her own self for feeling a little bit down at him leaving. She just met the man for crying out loud, why would she care about a stranger. She reasoned it was probably boredom eating her up and not something else entirely.

"What I meant is; how about you come and sit with me and spare me the company of my own boring self."

Seulgi could say no, a reasonable responsible Kang Seulgi ought to say no. Firstly on account of his being a probable serial killer, and second, she still had to pack her luggage and get a decent amount of sleep before her 10 a.m. flight the next day.

"Don't keep me hanging here. Please." He said and smiled sheepishly at her.

Seulgi did not know what possessed her (maybe it was Sooyoung's spirit taking over), but as she looked at him and then at her now empty glass of champagne, it hit Seulgi that this was her last night, well more like last hours in Paris. And instead of wanting to go back to her apartment, pack her things and sleep, she found herself quite liking the idea of having a conversation with this particular stranger. 


End file.
